live from london. this is bbc news. the us says it's working to stop a further escalation in fighting between israel and hezbollah, as lebanon reels from two days of deadly explosions. israel has not commented on the blasts, but announced some troops have been relocated from gaza to its border with lebanon. the centre of gravity is moving towards the north. the late mohamed al—fayed — former owner of harrods — is accused of rape by five female ex—employees. 7a bbc documentary reveals. america's largest labour union — which usually backs the democrats — says it won't endorse either candidate in the us presidential election. and coming up — the bank of england will decide

whether to cut interest rates from five percent. hello, i'm martine croxall. we begin with the latest in the middle east, following two days of explosions in lebanon. the united states says it's involved in intensive diplomatic efforts to prevent the conflict between israel and hezbollah escalating further. the comments come after explosions triggered in pagers and walkie—talkies used by hezbollah killed at least 32 people and injured thousands. the leader of hezbollah, which some western states have designated a terrorist organisation, is expected to address the events in a speech later today. israel hasn't confirmed it was behind the blasts, yet the defence minister yoav gallant has said it's opening a new phase in the war, with the centre of gravity shifting to the north. our reporter

simonjones has more. a funeral in southern lebanon is about to be interrupted. explosion an explosion, injuring a hezbollah soldier, causing panic and fear. screaming in beirut, another blast caused by a walkie—talkie. explosion a new form of technological warfare. seen too at this mobile phone shop in the city of sidon, where several devices went off. communication weaponised. explosion on tuesday, it was pagers used by hezbollah that were exploding. old—school technology that the group turned to recently, because it feared its mobile phones could be tracked. but it's thought the supply of pagers was intercepted and tiny amounts of high explosive hidden inside. among the dead were two children. hezbollah has blamed israel. it hasn't commented, but israel's defence

minister has said this: translation: i believe that we are at the startl of a new phase in the war and we must adapt. the centre of gravity is moving towards the north. this means that we are diverting forces, resources and energy towards the north. israel has released this footage of its troops training near the lebanese border. a second division of the army has moved to the area, leading to growing fears of all—out war. hezbollah, backed by iran, has been trading fire with israel across the border since last october. hezbollah�*s leader is due to give a speech today, in which he may indicate what the group will do next. the us is urging restraint. we want to see the war end. um, and everything we've been doing since the beginning has been designed to prevent the conflict from escalating. we still believe, for instance, that there is a diplomatic path forward that...

particularly up near lebanon. explosion in beirut, the security forces carry out a controlled explosion on a pager outside a hospital. all devices are seen as a potential threat. a diplomatic path to peace won't be easy to tread. simon jones, bbc news. as hundreds of walkie—talkies exploded across lebanon on wednesday, attention has turned to the devices themselves — and how the explosions were possible. this is what we know. the japanese firm icom says it's investigating reports the devices bear its logo. it said production on the model stopped 10 years ago, and added manufacturing of its batteries has also stopped. the company, icom, described the model as a handheld radio which was exported to the middle east from 2004 to 2014 and has not shipped since then. icom also said it isn't possible to confirm whether the walkie—talkies that exploded were

shopped directly from icom, or via a distributor. let's speak to our correspondent in jerusalem, yolande knell. we've had this comment from the defence minister that this is a new phase, what does he mean? it is not clear if they are expecting israel to go into all—out war with hezbollah and lebanon or whether this is a new focus on israel's northern border with lebanon. certainly, we know that a division of the israeli military that has been fighting in gaza has been transferred to that northern region. there are additional reservists being sent there and other military resources. what we have heard repeatedly from israeli leaders over the past week is that they are committed to this new war goal that they upset of returning tens of thousands of israeli civilians

did homes, they have been displaced by the fighting with hezbollah over the past 11 months. that has really gone on in parallel to the war in gaza. and the previous talk has been of the need to push hezbollah away from israel's border, perhaps there are a small scale ground assault.— perhaps there are a small scale ground assault. there have been multile ground assault. there have been multiple warnings _ ground assault. there have been multiple warnings from - ground assault. there have been multiple warnings from the - multiple warnings from the international community over the last few months for there to be no further escalation. how much pressure is israel going to come in there, particularly from the united states? ,, ,, . ., , ., states? the us secretary of states? the us secretary of state antony _ states? the us secretary of state antony blinken - states? the us secretary of state antony blinken has i states? the us secretary of. state antony blinken hasjust state antony blinken has just beenin state antony blinken has just been in the region. he is leaving it today, for discussions with european counterparts about what is going on here. he hasn't, on this occasion, come back to israel. we have had the israeli defence minister yoav gallant

talking to lloyd austin the us defence secretary, and the readout from the pentagon really repeating that the us remains very committed to israel's security, when it comes to dealing with the likes of hezbollah and other iranian proxies in this region. but we are really waiting now to see what is announced by the hezbollah leader hassan nasrallah when it comes to his speech later in the day, since the war in gaza started his speeches have been closely listened to around this region for clues of what his organisation, which is very powerful and well armed, is likely to do. in the past he has spoken about acting in solidarity with hamas in gaza and he has said that, if there was a gaza ceasefire deal, then the latest round of rocket fire by hezbollah into israel would stop. on this occasion the

reading in the israeli media is very much that his organisation has been so humiliated by what has been so humiliated by what has happened, there have been hundreds of hezbollah operatives wounded, so this is likely to lead to a more powerful response. thank you, ou powerful response. thank you, you knell— powerful response. thank you, you knell in — powerful response. thank you, you knell in jerusalem. - —— yolande knell. let's speak to nadim houry, executive director at the arab reform initiative team think tank. what is the atmosphere like there? in what is the atmosphere like there? ,., , what is the atmosphere like there? , j~ what is the atmosphere like there? j~ ., , there? in the past 48 hours peeple have _ there? in the past 48 hours people have lived _ there? in the past 48 hours people have lived through l people have lived through terror, the passing sound of ambulances in the streets, the images of overflowing hospitals, as you have to remember that people went through after the explosion on august four, something very similar in scale so, high levels of fear and concern, and

also a great sense of uncertainty, because everybody talks about this was a targeted and precise attack but actually what happened to the people in lebanon is that in the middle of the afternoon thousands of devices started exploding. these were not issued to hezbollah issues, they were part of society, somewhere driving cars and motorbikes, shopping, so peoplejust felt shopping, so people just felt suddenly shopping, so peoplejust felt suddenly their entire sense of security to solve. so high levels of fear and concern amid constant escalating threats from israel.— constant escalating threats from israel. . , . ., from israel. we are expecting a seech from israel. we are expecting a speech from — from israel. we are expecting a speech from the _ from israel. we are expecting a speech from the hezbollah - speech from the hezbollah leader hassan nasrallah later in the day. what might he need to say, given how destabilised his organisation would appear to be? h, . his organisation would appear to be? . , . his organisation would appear to be? ., , ., , to be? hezbollah is in a bind, they have _ to be? hezbollah is in a bind, they have made _ to be? hezbollah is in a bind, they have made it _ to be? hezbollah is in a bind, they have made it clear - to be? hezbollah is in a bind, they have made it clear that i they have made it clear that they have made it clear that they do not want an escalating

war, that they are tying the border to the situation in gaza, and even when they had the assassination of one of their key leaders a few weeks ago, they decided not to escalate by attacking civilians. they know that if they escalate right now that this is what israel wants, to invade lebanon. on the other hand, there is competing pressure on them to re—establish a form of mutual deterrence, which had existed between hezbollah and israel since 2006 and which kept the border in large part very quiet after october of last year, so they are in a bind. i do not expect them to rush into a decision. clearly, hassan nasrallah will have to speak to his supporters to calm them and convert them and give them confidence but one thing that hezbollah has been good at in the past, that they have

learned from the iranians, they will probably take their time to figure out how they have been infiltrated to that level, and to decide operationally, what they can do. but i'm sure that they will have to say things like we will have to retaliate, vengeance is coming, but any escalation in the coming days and weeks is more likely to come from the israeli side and the us has not been playing the role of moderator, despite their statements, they have in a way been supporting, financing, giving intel to the israelis since october 7th. that is an interesting perspective that many would take issue with, but we appreciate you talking to us, thank you. nadim houry, executive director at the arab reform initiative team think tank. live to our correspondent hugo bachega in beirut. i don't know if you heard that,

but he was saying that hezbollah is humiliated. exactly, it is the worst security breach in their history. two days of attacks starting with devices used by members of the group, it shows that israel has managed to penetrate the group's communication networks. so, it is a very difficult reality for hezbollah right now, how to respond to these attacks, not only in terms of retaliation but in terms of how to adapt to this new reality. again, hassan nasrallah, the powerful hezbollah leader is going to make a speech later today. his first public reaction since those attacks, and i think many people will be watching this speech to see any kind of indication of how the group is planning to respond. has vowed to respond after these attacks, blaming israel for these explosions that happened across the country. and again, real

fears here, of a possible escalation in this conflict between his brother mark and israel. we saw yesterday that the israeli defence minister yoav gallant said that his country was at the start of a new phase in this war, so, again, concerns that this conflict that has been by and large contain two areas along the border could escalate into a major confrontation between israel and hezbollah. you have to question _ israel and hezbollah. you have to question how— israel and hezbollah. you have to question how target - israel and hezbollah. you have to question how target these i to question how target these attacks have been when you look attacks have been when you look at the sheer number of civilians, and children as well, who have been affected and maimed by these explosions. exactly. this has been the source of a lot of anger in the country, because of the extent of these attacks. some of these devices exploded as people were in shops, at home with our families, and there has been a

lot of confusion. yesterday i was south of beirut when one of those explosions happened. there was panic because many people believed that no electronic device was safe, hezbollah members were stopping us to say do not use your phone or your camera. us to say do not use your phone oryour camera. one us to say do not use your phone or your camera. one of our producers received a message from a friend to say that she was changing her lebanese sim card to a international one, because she was concerned that her phone could explode. so there is you a sense of the feeling across the country. so there was shock, as a result of those attacks, but also a lot of anger because hundreds of people have been injured, lots of people with severe eye, hand, facial injuries as well. so, there is widespread anger as a result of those attacks that happened in several locations across the country. thank you, hugo bachega in beirut. around the world

and across the uk. this is bbc news.

the bbc has exclusively revealed that the late mohamed al—fayed — former owner of harrods, the uk's largest luxury department store — has been accused of rape by five female ex—employees. the egyptian—born businessman rose from a poor family in alexandria to buying the world—famous department store in 1985. a bbc documentary has uncovered evidence that, under mohamed al—fayed s ownership, harrods not only failed to intervene, but helped to cover up abuse allegations. this report from shaima khalil contains descriptions yeah, i went back to harrods about a year ago, and i knew if i could walk through and come out the other side, i'd be in a good place to be talking to you. ijoined harrods because i wanted to be a buyer, and i ended up working for an absolute monster. when mohamed al—fayed took over harrods, he quickly

embraced his high—profile role and the status that came with it. to his customers and the celebrity guests, he was all charm, but to many of his female employees, he was a different man — a predator. we've heard testimony from more than 20 of al—fayed's female ex—employees. he tried to rape me more than once. and he pushed me in and on to the bed so that i couldn't move. you know, he was 79, nearly 80, and i was 15. mohamed al—fayed was rich and powerful. that power allowed him to carry out assault at scale over decades. i wasn't at home. i was in france. and he'd come upstairs into my room. i was absolutely terrified, got into bed with me and was trying to kiss me and push himself on me and i... again, ijust... i don't know how i did it. ijust kicked him off. i kicked him, kicked him, kicked him, kicked and screamed. and again i got him off.

i was just. . .just terrified. i think mohamed al—fayed is a rapist. i think he's a serial rapist. gemma worked as al—fayed's personal assistant for two years. my first trip was actually to abu dhabi, and he was trying to get in my room in quite an aggressive manner. it was absolutely terrifying, just didn't know which way to turn. so i bought a small dictaphone that i had in my pocket. and, um, these are the transcripts from those recordings. one of them was in paris, in his residence there, villa windsor. i said, "i just want to go to sleep on my own. mr fayed, i don't want to, mr fayed." and he kept saying, "relax, please relax." how can you relax when you're in that situation? he walked out and he was angry. not long after this incident, gemma says al—fayed raped her. the bbc has heard testimony from four other women, who say he raped them at his properties. in 2009, gemma contacted

a lawyer, who told harrods she was leaving herjob on the grounds of sexual harassment. she didn't feel able to disclose the more serious allegations at the time. they agreed to pay a settlement if she signed a non—disclosure agreement. there was also one other condition. the lawyers organised for a shredding truck to come to my lawyer's office. it was shredded in front of us, including tapes i had of him, my phone that had messages and voicemails, really quite nasty voicemails on them. someone from hr was present for the shredding of all of the evidence i had. i thought i'd lost the transcripts, but actually what i did have was the transcriptions sent to my lawyer in my sent items of my e—mail account at the time. in a statement, the current owners of harrods say they were utterly appalled by the allegations and that employees, who were his victims, had been failed, for which they sincerely apologised. they also said that the harrods of today is a very different organisation to the one owned and controlled by al—fayed between 1985 and 2010.

there were several attempts to expose al—fayed before his death, but it is only now that many of the survivors feel able to speak publicly about the abuse. for those who have, the silence and the taboo are finally broken. shaima khalil, bbc news. there are several ways you can get more on this story. the new season of world of secrets, from the bbc world service, is available right now, wherever you get your bbc podcasts. and the documentary "al fayed: predator at harrods" — is coming soon to the bbc news channel. and if you re in the united states or canada, if you have been affected by theissues if you have been affected by the issues in that report you can find advice on the bbc action line page on our website. the bbc has been told that sir keir starmer�*s chief

of staff received a pay rise after the election which means she is now paid more than the prime minister. sue gray asked for and was given a salary of £170,000 — £3,000 more than the prime minister and more than any cabinet minister, let's speak to our chief political correspondent henry zeffman. much of a fuss as this coding? we knew that there were tensions at the top of government. and this story from me and chris mason was, would attest to theirs but my phone has practically burned up in the arrow since we published the arrow since we published the story yesterday with people across whitehall and westminster who are furious at sue gray, keir starmer�*s chief of staff. let me explain why. it is not necessarily about her salary in absolute terms. there will be people out there who think that not only sue gray as the prime minister's chief of staff and the prime minister himself should be paid a lot

more, they could earn more in the private sector or parts of the private sector or parts of the public sector also but at the public sector also but at the same time as her pay increase, there are other more junior advisers working under her who have been complaining for weeks privately back through us kind of publicly now that their pay is being cut. so what all that speaks to is very real tensions at the heart of downing street, so early in this new government's tenure, which raises questions about whether they will be able to get other things done if they are fighting over things like this and all of that was among the questions put earlier by our colleagues in bbc breakfast to jonathan reynolds our colleagues in bbc breakfast tojonathan reynolds the business secretary. look, in terms of this story and officials' pay more widely, it is a process that exists, a civil service process. it hasn't changed. it is wrong to say there is any kind of political input in there or people set their own pay bands. but there is really, to be honest, not

much i can tell you. i don't even get to set that pay directly for my own advisers, so... my question was a fairly simple one, which is, do you think it is odd that she is paid more? do you think that is odd or not? i think there are and always have been officials that are paid more than politicians in our system, and that hasn't changed. the business secretaryjonathan reynolds speaking to bbc breakfast. where is this going to go next?— to go next? there are a lot of --eole to go next? there are a lot of people in _ to go next? there are a lot of people in government - to go next? there are a lot of people in government to - to go next? there are a lot of people in government to say| people in government to say that sue gray is the victim here of a misplaced and deeply personal, malicious campaign against her. and it is clearly the case that the story that chris and i have been working on, it does contain really personal briefing against her. which is quite unusual, certainly this early in the government. but whether it is fair or not, which is not for us tojudge, it is fair or not, which is not for us to judge, it is clearly a problem for sir keir starmer, and one word keep cropping up again and again in off the record exchanges that i have been having with contacts around westminster, and that word is "unsustainable". there

are not many people who think that this level or briefing from different factions within keir starmer�*s government can go on much longer. he is going, they you have to make some sort of move to draw a line under this. . ~ of move to draw a line under this. ., ~ , ., of move to draw a line under this. ., ~ i. ., this. thank you, for the moment. _ this. thank you, for the moment, henry - this. thank you, for the - moment, henry zefferman. north korea says that the missile test, carried out on wednesday, was of a new ballistic missile, which is capable of carrying what it describes as a �*super large' warhead. north korea's official news agency showed pictures of kimjong un, �*guiding' the tests — which also included a cruise missile, which it ways has been upgraded for combat use. south korea says it tracked the missile launches — which came down in a remote, mountainous part of north korea. conservationists in new zealand have gone to extraordinary lengths to free a whale which had become trapped under a pier — by dismantling the construction to set the whale free.

this is the pygmy blue whale, about 15 metres in length, which had swum underneath the private wharf in kawau island — and was unable to free itself. when its plight became public — rescue teams were brought in and the decision was made to take the pier apart — piece by piece — until the whale could swim away. experts say it suffered a little bit of distress during the operation — but it was eventually able to return to the open seas, none the worse for the experience. and the conservation groups say they will now replace the pier, leaving it as it was before the whale became lodged underneath it, but with extra protections to stop anything like this happening again. a reminder or a live page on the bbc news website and app, which is the latest on these explosions which have occurred for two days running this week in lebanon. much more analysis of where that is going to lead

in the middle east. stay with us here on bbc news. thursday promises to be another unusually warm september day in large parts of the uk although in the north of scotland it might not be quite walk as warm as it was on wednesday when aviemore got 25 celsius, some 10 degrees above the seasonal average. elsewhere, languishing at 14 celsius because in mid wales, there has been cloud lingering for a good part of the day. some of that cloud returning from the east as well, so england and wales seeing a pretty cloudy start in some places but that cloud tending to retreat by the afternoon towards the east coast. some cloud rolling onto the coast of eastern scotland. elsewhere, good spells of sunshine, just a very small chance of seeing a shower across southern counties of england. it really is a very

small chance. when you are exposed to the breeze along the north sea, temperatures may only reach 18 celsius, but up to 25 in parts of south—east england and, through thursday night, we bring more cloud back in from the east. it may turn a little bit misty and murky in places. that cloud will load up temperatures, 15 celsius in london to start friday morning, eight or nine in aberdeen and glasgow, a little bit cooler where we start with clear skies overhead, but the focus of our weather starts to shift as we go through friday. we turn our eyes to the south with this developing area of low pressure. that will start to bring showers and thunderstorms across parts of southern england, perhaps getting into the midlands, the southern half of wales, as we go through the day. eastern scotland, north—east england, holding onto lots of missed and merck, picking temperatures back, but the west of scotland and northern ireland should see plenty of sunshine. into

saturday, though showers and thunderstorms in the south becoming more frequent, pushing a little bit further northwards. cloudy photos east of east of scotland and eastern england, the west of scotland and northern ireland seen plenty of sunshine but those temperatures generally down a little bit by this stage. and by sunday that area of low pressure makes its move, bringing showers or longer spells of rain particularly across england and wales. the odd shower and some extra cloud and eastern scotland but generally in the north of the uk, it will stay largely dry.

this is bbc news. the headlines... exploding walkie talkies leave at least 20 dead and more than 450 injured in lebanon, as israel says it's opening a new phase in the war. the late mohamed al—fayed — former owner of harrods — is accused of rape by five female ex—employees, a bbc documentary reveals. coming up — the bank of england will decide whether to change interest rates from the current five percent, after the us fed cut its rate for the first time in four years. storm boris batters northern italy bringing severe flooding and landslides — meanwhile in bratislava — the clean up begins. hello, i'm martine croxall. the bank of england will decide later whether to

change interest rates from five percent.